


Playing on my Heartstrings

by orphan_account



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin
Genre: M/M, Pianist Eren Yeager, Violinist Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), internet fame, musician au, youtube au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-17
Updated: 2016-06-12
Packaged: 2018-06-08 23:07:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6878518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Levi is a semi-famous violinist on YouTube, Eren is an up-and-coming pianist and singer on YouTube. Both are fans of each other's work but doesn't think the other knows they exist. With a little push from their friends and a concert tour that might very well change.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: Hello again, I know it's been awhile since I posted anything... I'll explain more below, all you have to know is I fell out of the fandom and I'm trying to regain my love for it as well as get back into writing. I haven't been able to write for months.
> 
> This is an idea I had a year ago and most of it hasn't been changed much since I first wrote it back then. It was supposed to be a oneshot but I'm using it as an attempt to get back into writing again. Please tell me what you think.

Levi Ackerman took a deep breath and adjusted the violin on his shoulder, plucking each of the strings one final time more to ensure they were still in tune. It was a nervous obsession of his and he did it before recording any video; the twangs had the ability to relax him and he felt no need to stop the habit any time soon.

He could do this, it wasn't in front of a live audience and he got as many takes as he liked; still, it was amazing and nerve-wracking, and his stage-fright was something he was reluctant to tell anyone about, although the his friends suspected it. What foolish idiot got nervous about a recording for the internet to see? Nobody, that's who. Still... It was amazing to think he'd come this far, simply amazing.

He had no idea just how had he gotten to a million subscribers on YouTube, he didn't think his playing deserved that much attention, let alone the fans who had been waiting for this video he was making. When he'd hit the million subscriber mark he'd posted a video, well Hanji had told him to post it, announcing a contest in which he'd pick a random fan and cover a song of their choice.

Needless to say the response had been overwhelming enough that his social media accounts had hit trending status within hours of the video being posted and hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of entries were made. Another video had been posted stating that a song had been chosen and the winner notified by email, but for the sake of surprise the song itself was to be kept a secret.

The camera started rolling and he closed his eyes, imagining it wasn't there, trying to reach the state of mind that made for a perfect performance, zen-mode as he called it. The song hadn't been difficult to cover, thank goodness, and it was one that didn't make him change the radio station when it came on. Only one thing nagged at him, and as he listened to the vibrato he couldn't help but think that it would be better with someone singing to it. He could hear the lyrics in his mind as his bow glided across the strings, "I know you lie, your lips are movin, do you really think that I'm dumb?"

Yes. A singer would complete this piece, and he could see who that was in his minds eye, those green eyes blazing with such an intensity as tanned finger danced across ivory keys in a way he'd grown to adore. When he started imagining their perfect voice accompanying his violin he found the piece was over before he knew it and he was left standing in the bare studio, panting from just how intensely he'd been playing. There was an emptiness coiling in his gut at the realization the duet had been mere delusion, would likely always be only visible to him, just wishful thinking.

"Levi! Oh my goodness, that was amazing! This has to be one of your best performances ever!" He heard footsteps drawing toward him, snapping him out of his thoughts, and sidestepped quickly to avoid the brown-haired maniac who called him a friend. Making sure to avoid the chance for them to tackle him to the ground and break yet another one of his violins. That number was more than he could count on one hand and the instruments he selected to play with were expensive.

"Four eyes, what have I told you about respecting my violin?" He growled at the bespectacled brunette grinning up at him from the floor, ignoring the fact that one of their lenses was now cracked.

"You know I don't have brain cells to waste on tiny details." They replied happily, before jumping to their feet and brushing their pants off, as though all of his threats meant less than dirt to them. "Oh yeah! That reminds me! I almost forgot to show you that Rogue posted a new video this morning, and knowing how big a fan of him you are I thought you'd want to see it."

They brought out a phone from their pocket, the screen so damaged it was hard to see anything, and opened the browser, bringing up a video of a young man playing a piano and singing. His voice was smooth and comforting, like being dipped in a warm bath, making Levi forget everything while he listened but that sound.

"Mirror, tell me something. Tell me who's the loneliest of all."

He'd covered all the different instruments in the song on the piano, layering them on top of the other beautifully and intertwining the sounds with his voice. He could hit every high note of the song, a feat that should impress anyone, and by the time he'd sung the last words, "I'm the loneliest of all." Levi was having trouble breathing.

"He did a RWBY song! Isn't that so cool!" Hanji's voice cut through the silence like a knife, forcing the violinist to snap out of his daze. "Didn't you want to do a RWBY medley someday? Maybe you two could collaborate or something!" The raven just nodded before silently moving to pack up his violin in its case, wiping down the soundboard meticulously so that none of his fingers remained on the fine spruce wood.

"Hanji, Rivaille's probably got a lot on his mind right now with his tour coming up, it was a risk even doing this video when he should be practicing and consulting with people about preparations. He has an interview this afternoon, remember?" Erwin's deep voice mentioning his stage name and the tour brought Levi back down to earth from the temporary high Rogue's music had given him.

Damn this tour. He hadn't wanted to do it at all but his "friends" said it would be great publicity for him, as well as a way to earn a nice profit. That and they kept telling him it was "what the fans wanted." Fuck that. He hadn't started posting videos of him playing the violin online as a way to earn money or become famous, he'd just thought it a fun idea, a way to express himself in music.

His first ever cover he'd uploaded was of Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" one of his all time favorite songs. He hadn't expected anything to result from it, but a week later he'd had 100 followers and people suggesting, no, begging him to cover other songs. Within a year he had covered twenty songs and his fan base grew every day. His videos were just violin covers of hit songs so when he posted a rock-type cover of a song people didn't know what to think of it.

It was also the video he revealed his face for, the other ones had just been the music and a painting he'd made of the album cover. His fans hadn't known whether he was male or female, old or young, and to see a 5"3' man in his mid-twenties dressed in black ripped jeans and a leather jacket would surprise anyone. It didn't help that his eyes were rimmed in black eyeliner and his black hair was in an undercut, in addition to playing a hardcore cover of the Rolling Stones' "Paint it Black" on an ebony violin.

In the end the cover had earned him even more fans and Hanji had forced him into making several social media accounts which they managed since he refused to. In the span of five years he was one of the most famous musicians online.

Fame didn't interest him though, and despite living in San Diego he wasn't rubbing his status as a minor celebrity in everyone's face. He didn't care about what people thought about him, in fact he only wanted one person to notice him, but that person would probably never knew he existed no matter how famous he got.

Sighing he closed the lid on his violin case and took a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. It was a music sheet for a song he'd been struggling with; several pieces of the white surface erased so many times that they were close to tearing. Nevertheless he would finish this piece, and he smiled at the title.

"Bright eyes."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, did you like it? I'm so sorry about not posting anything and I know there are no real excuses I can give that you haven't heard before.
> 
> Basically I haven't been able to write anything decent in months, probably half a year, like that part of my brain isn't working properly. I'm blaming work for the time being, it's essentially killing the parts of me capable of doing anything but being tired.
> 
> Enough about me working to death, I'm here to talk about stories. If you want me to continue this or any of my other stories tell me in a message or comment otherwise I'll probably stop posting again. I did start rewriting Clockwork Wings because I wasn't happy with where it was going, but if you have a favorite of one of my stories, tell me to stop being a piece of crap and update it.
> 
> Thanks for reading this. It means a lot to me.


	2. Fireflies and Good Riddance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: Thanks for the feedback! I'm happy so many people seem to like this fic, I hope you continue to enjoy it! Without further waiting, here is chapter two.

Being shaken awake by his best friend was not Eren Yeager's favorite way to be woken up in the morning, especially when his friend proceeded to pester him by yelling directly in his face. The brunet blinked at the blond before pushing Armin away from him and pulling the blankets around him in a cocoon, wishing he could go back to sleep.

"What is it Ar? I was having a nice dream." He muttered, rolling over on his futon. The small apartment he and Armin shared only had one bedroom so Eren had convinced his friend to get the futon instead of a couch so he could sleep on it. It may not have been especially comfortable after years of constant use, but it was better than a lumpy mattress on the floor.

"Eren!" The blond's voice was too loud for the early hour, whatever hour it happened to be anyway. The constant high volume was giving him a headache. "Rivaille's doing a tour! He's coming to New York! We could see him live!" His friend's blue eyes were lit up with excitement and his cheeks were flushed as though he'd run a long distance instead of the few feet from the bedroom to the living room.

It took several seconds for the news to register in Eren's foggy brain; he'd been up until the early morning working on a song and even after crawling under the blanket he couldn't stop thinking about it. Hours passed until he finally passed out from exhaustion and it resulted in not getting much sleep. The news made eyes widen despite the tiredness and he grasped Armin's collar, dragging the blond closer to him so they were nose to nose, his breath fogging up his friend's round glasses.

"Rivaille's coming here? To New York?" He could feel his heart hammering in his chest as he processed the information. Rivaille was coming to where he lived. Rivaille, his favorite musician. His idol. He was coming here! Eren could see Rivaille perform in person, something he'd dreamed of, he could meet him and possibly get his autograph. It seemed too good to be true.

His friend nodded, slightly afraid of Eren's reaction, and the brunet let go of his shirt. His mind was going thousands of miles an hour, thinking, imagining, and trying to formulate some plan of what to do. He ran his fingers through his brown hair, already messy from bedhead, and got off the futon and began pacing the room.

Eren had loved the raven's work since before Rivaille had hit a thousand fans on YouTube before he'd even known what the man looked like, and Rivaille had inspired the brunet to post his own videos on the site. He owned every cd there was to own, had listened to every song that existed, watched every music video and interview and somewhere along the way he'd developed a massive crush on the musician.

When he'd started his channel he'd only played the piano, doing covers of songs and some medleys. His first song had been "Fireflies" by Owl City, the video just of his hands on the piano. His videos had been received well, but when he'd gone out on a limb at one point and let Armin film him singing the song "Good Riddance" by Green Day in addition to playing it.

He'd also shown his face in that video, Mikasa had been against it but he'd thought that if Rivaille could do it then so could he. That video was one of his favorites to this day, he'd felt so alive singing it. "It might be unpredictable, but in the end it's right. I hope you have the time of your life." He had, and it had been the right thing to do.

His fan base had grown slowly but steadily and was now in the ten-thousand range. He'd branched out from there and started covering more geeky things like Legend of Zelda, Earthbound, and even some Disney songs. He played what he wanted to play, not what others wanted him to play and he liked it that way. Eventually he'd started posting his original songs as well but no matter how famous he became he was always miles behind his goal. All he wanted was to stand on equal ground with Rivaille, for him to see Eren as the brunet saw him.

Now his idol was coming to him, maybe they could hang out or do a song together, or...

No. It was stupid to think like this. Rivaille must have hundreds of thousands of fans throwing themselves at him; he'd just look like one more person to avoid. Even so, Eren couldn't do nothing, first he went to the musician's website and confirmed that Armin hadn't been lying to him, then he gave himself a few more minutes to freak out before he put the computer aside.

It wasn't like he had nothing but free time to daydream in, so he did some homework before going to work on a piece he'd started covering for a friend of his' birthday. It was some anime's theme song, Hikarunara by a band called Goose House; he didn't mind doing the cover, it was quite a beautiful song. No, the part he kept having trouble with was deciding whether to just use the piano or to sing as well.

The brunet had attempted singing in Japanese before and Mikasa had frowned at him before lecturing him for days on proper pronunciation and syntax. He could always translate the lyrics, but he wasn't especially good at that and there were only a few days left before the party. Ugh, he hated decisions, especially when he was already swamped with work for school. Deciding to forgo the lyrics for now, he opened the lid of his piano and smiled, removing the velvet and running his fingers lightly across the worn ivory keys.

This piano, a grand piano had been his mother's, she'd been the one to teach him how to play it, and even though she'd been gone for three years Eren still recalled sitting on her lap as a small boy and playing with the instrument. It had been the only thing that he'd been left in her will that truly mattered to him, and every time he played, he swore she was watching him and smiling. Pulling the stool close and sitting down he closed his eyes for a moment before starting to play, slowly at first to make sure he was hitting the right notes, then at the proper speed. Nothing made him feel more at peace than playing; he was alone in the world, it was just him and the piano and nothing else, that was until the apartment door slammed open and the brunet nearly fell off his stool.

"Eren! Rivaille's coming-" this time it was Connie shouting at him and interrupting something important.

"Armin already told me." He replied, slightly irritated as he fixed the sheet music that had fallen to the ground in his shock.

Connie's face fell slightly upon hearing he wasn't the first to tell his friend the news but he soon recovered, entering the small room as though he'd been invited, his girlfriend Sasha right behind him, a plastic bag full of snacks dangling from each arm. Eren hadn't recalled inviting them over, but the couple practically lived there from how often they were over. Some weeks it felt like he saw them more than Mikasa, and she was his sister.

"You should send him a message though!" Sasha chimed in excitedly. "I see you're coming to New York! Let's make out and shit!"

The brunet's face flushed and he turned away from the couple, pretending to straighten the sheet music more. "W-what? Why would I do that? I don't have a crush on hi-"

"Eren, we know you like him, you had a dream about him last week. Armin told me. He also told me that it wasn't the first one, also not the most interesting one."

To his credit, Eren's face could not go any redder than it already was and he tried hiding it behind the pages of music that weren't out of order and didn't need to be reorganized. "Guys, Rivaille doesn't know who I am, it doesn't matter if I like him," He realized what he'd just said and stammered. B-but I don't, and there's just no reason to talk to him. I mean, what reason is there for me to do that?" His voice was a mix of flustered and depressed.

"You could still talk to him, you're both musicians, why not ask to practice together or something." Sasha's eyes lit up as they rested on his still-open laptop resting on the futon and she practically flung herself at it. Eren jumped to his feet and tried to block her path but Connie stepped in front of him as his girlfriend accessed the pianist's Facebook account, the Rogue one.

"Dear Rivaille." She grinned as she read what she wrote aloud in a singsong voice. "I see you're coming to New York for your tour. I'm a big fan. Can't wait to see you live. Sincerely, Rogue." She closed the laptop and smiled wickedly at Eren who was currently in a headlock courtesy of Connie and glaring at her, his face the color of a tomato from embarrassment and the headlock itself.

"What! I swear that's all I wrote. Promise." She smirked, and with a turn of one sneakered heel, she walked out of the apartment, picking up her bags of snacks, her boyfriend following close behind her. It was as though they'd only come to mess with Eren, and now that they'd succeeded there was nothing left to do but leave the brunet to rub his neck and wonder what the fuck he'd gotten himself into.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Eren. His friends are kinda mean, but they're just trying to show they care since he's stuck in loverboy land.
> 
> So that was chapter two! How was it? Did you like seeing Eren's point of view? This fic is going to switch back and forth every other chapter, meaning it's back to Levi for the next one.
> 
> I am really grateful to the people who commented and followed and faved and everything. I work 5 days a week at hipster coffee green apron place and it's very exhausting, leaving me with not a whole lot of brain cells and energy to write, but I'll do my best for the people who like it, just bear with me.
> 
> Also, I forgot to mention this stuff last week when I posted chapter one because I was very tired but I wanted to post the chapter anyway. I was inspired by mah girl, Lindsey Sterling, and the song Hikarunara, which is the opening to Your Lie in April. Super pretty song, and Lindsey is just a great artist and I love her. It was a year or so ago that I started this so I can't remember exactly what I was thinking, but this was the result.
> 
> Last thing. I swear. For almost all the songs I choose for this fic I actually look up piano or violin covers to see if they sound good. Should I post links to what I find in the future? You guys wanna suggest songs for these dudes to play? Gimme some insight as to what you wanna see in this fic!
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	3. The Interview

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm baaaack! Thanks for the interest in this story, I'm so happy you like it!

Levi was going over the song he was to play in his interview in his head, playing an imaginary violin when the door practically flew off its hinges and Hanji burst into the makeshift dressing room, probably an old broom closet, and shoved their cracked phone in his face.

"Leeeeeviii! Guess who just sent you a message about the concert?" Their face was close enough to his for Levi to see that Hanji hadn't bothered to brush their teeth that morning, and for some bizarre reason they still wore the broken glasses from last week's fall.

The raven leaned back away from the screen so he could make out the text being shown to him, but before he'd gotten the chance to read a single word the phone was taken away. He sighed and resisted the urge to run a hand through his already-styled hair, having been yelled at for doing so in the past. Hanji had a way of knowing just how to push his buttons, and he didn't need this right before an interview that already pushed the limits of his anxiety.

"Spit it out or I'll wring your pathetic throat. I'm not in the mood for games. Correction, I would rather lose one hand and never play the violin again, than I would put up with your stupidity for another second. Therefore get to the point or leave."

"Woah, I haven't seen you this frustrated in a while; is it the interview? I thought being on such a big-name show would make you happy; most people would kill to meet the guy, let alone be interviewed by him." Hanji straightened their glasses and frowned slightly, looking around the dingy room as though avoiding Levi's silver gaze.

"After ten years of being friends you should know me better." The raven hissed in irritation. "I don't care about money or fame; I just want to make people happy with my music."

"That's sweet hon, but it doesn't pay the bills. Moreover, your fans are excited about this concert, and the guy asked you to come on the show himself. There's more to this interview than it seems, so think about making your fans happy and just calm down. If you attack the guy on live TV you'll go to jail and then you can have a real reason to be pissed off."

Levi sighed once more and clenched his hands into fists at his sides as he leaned against the cheap vanity in the tiny room. "Didn't you want to show me something?"

A smile broke across Hanji's face as they remembered the reason for nearly breaking down the door. "Omygosh Levi you will never believe who messaged your Facebook page about the concert! This may make your entire month!"

"Was it another Jesus impersonator? Because the last one did make me laugh for a few minutes." He also had received messages from Godzilla and Batman, both of which had given him a chuckle. His fans were creative, at the very least.

"Hang on, I'll read you the message; but don't faint or shit yourself or anything. You still need to go on TV after this." They cleared their throat and held the cracked phone up to the equally cracked glasses. "Dear Rivaille. I see you're coming to New York for your tour. I'm a big fan. Can't wait to see you live. Sincerely, Rogue." Hanji smirked at the look on Levi's face when they'd finished reading; mouth open, eyes wide in shock.

"Are you shitting me?" He muttered, stomping forward and trying to snatch the phone from his friend's hands, but they lifted it out of reach as it vibrated.

"Oh, another message from Rogue! Let's see..." Hanji coughed. "Dear Rivaille, I'm sorry about that last note." Both friends frowned and Levi managed to take advantage of the confusion to snatch the phone and read the rest aloud.

"My friend used my laptop without telling me and they're the one who messaged you earlier. I'm sorry if it caused any confusion, they enjoy making my life difficult and I feel bad that their actions involved you. Sorry to bother you again. Rogue."

There was an awkward silence and both of them stared at the phone for a few seconds in which Levi had to resist the urge to throw the stupid thing against the dingy wall. His breathing was heavy as he hated himself for daring to hope that something might dare have happened to connect them, that Rogue might... Might what? They were just two musicians, and that was all they'd ever be to one another.

"Are you going to reply?" Hanji dared to ask, unsure of their friend's mood. "I can do it if you want..."

He shook his head and reread both messages, trying to think up a response that wouldn't sound creepy, generic, or angry. Sighing he struggled to type on the cracked screen and tossed it to Hanji so they could read the sent message.

"Does that mean you aren't my fan?"

-

Nobody could claim that Dot Pixis wasn't good at what he did; he had a way of capturing the audience's attention and energy, like a magician in a way. He welcomed Levi onstage and pulled him into a hug, which the raven accepted only because it would be extremely awkward if he refused the mustached man on live television. He hated being touched by people he didn't know, and he knew he'd take a long, hot shower after this whole mess was over.

"The famous Rivaille!" Pixis smiled warmly at him once they had both sat down in plush chairs around a low table. "I'm so pleased you could join me, my daughter is quite the fan of yours and insisted I interview you."

Levi was taken aback for a second upon hearing that, he hadn't expected that someone so famous would actually know about him. "It's an honor sir; I'll admit it was a pleasant surprise to be invited here." He gave the host a tiny smile, the most he could accomplish while feeling so awkward.

Pixis didn't seem offended by the lack of emotion on his face or in his voice and pressed on, smiling widely. "So Rivaille, how did you get started playing the violin?"

His smile faltered slightly, he had known that the question was coming but he still hated to think about his childhood. Dreaded diving into that pile of memories so dark it was hard to piece them apart, he took a breath and stared at the old man, concentrating on the present instead of what was no longer important.

"I was raised by my uncle, and he taught me how to play when he wasn't working. When he passed away, I was left his violin and I continued to practice in every spare minute I had; it was more of an obsession than anything else during that time."

Pixis frowned at him, his wrinkled brow creasing with concern. "You poor thing, if you don't mind me asking... How old were you when your uncle passed? Just to give everyone an idea of how long you've been playing."

Levi's legs tensed, a habit he'd developed so that nobody could tell when he was feeling uncomfortable; it was much less noticeable than clenching his hands into fists or tightening his jaw. He wanted to talk about his music, not his history, but clearly, this man had other plans.

"I was ten, and since I'm guessing you'll ask this next, my friend's parents took me in after that happened and they've been very supportive of my music." He forced a tense smile, trying to relax his shoulders and wishing his headache would go away.

Pixis seemed to notice his distress and nodded, giving a glance to the cameras as if checking to see how he looked. "Ten years old is quite impressive to start playing the violin regularly, I have no doubt that's one of the reasons you're as talented as you are now."

"Practicing consistently for twelve years does help, yes; one of my friends likes to pretend I made a deal with the devil for my ability, they're a bit strange like that." The raven imagined Hanji groaning backstage as they watched the interview, but he secretly wished that he could be there instead of onstage; he couldn't wait to see Rogue's reply.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohhh, Levi you're such a silly. Don't toy with Eren, he's too starstruck to know how to deal with you. Which you'll get to see in the next chapter :3 I hope it will please you guys.
> 
> I also hope you liked this one, sorry if it was too short. I've been really busy at work and I came down with the sicky and my lungs still hate me for it. I'm tryyyyingggg. I also need to like coffee so I can be caffeinated alllll the time despite working at hipster coffee shop I still don't really like coffee.
> 
> Also, no song references in this one so have a link to a violin cover of Fall Out Boy's "My songs know what you did in the dark" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caRAFqXeve4
> 
> Thanks for reading, liking, faving, commenting, following, and enjoying! If I'm taking too long you can yell at me and I may respond.
> 
> Oh! Also someone asked what brunet meant, it's the masculine form of brunette. It's brunet for guys and brunette for girls; also blond for guys and blonde for girls. Sadly there's no good adjective for black-haired so I just call Levi a raven. Caw caw muthafuckers.


End file.
